U.S. Government contribution for UNICEF
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: Congress Maintains UNICEF Funding– Thanks to YOU!
The U.S. Congress finally agreed on a bill to fund the Federal Government for the rest of Fiscal Year 2012, which began on October 1. Included in this package are the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations, which includes the U.S. Government’s annual voluntary contribution to UNICEF’s regular resources.
We are pleased to share with you that the Congress provided nearly $132 million for UNICEF, about the same funding as last fiscal year. This is a huge victory, because Congress cut core foreign operations spending by about $6 billion from FY 2011 levels. In effect, Congress preserved UNICEF funding in the midst of tough budget cuts.
This could not have happened without YOU. We are proud that UNICEF volunteers, campus groups, and committed supporters across the country came together to advocate for strong U.S. Government support for UNICEF.
Please check back soon though – the FY 2013 budget process will begin soon, and we will need every voice to sound off in support of UNICEF, and its work to save children’s lives.
Background
© U.S. Fund for UNICEF/Telford
Since its creation in 1947, UNICEF has saved more children's lives than any humanitarian organization in the world. UNICEF staff work in more than 150 developing countries and territories to help children survive and thrive.
UNICEF supports prenatal care, child health and nutrition, clean water and sanitation, quality basic education for girls and boys, and protecting children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. Because of its unique experience and global presence, UNICEF is able to participate in all stages of assistance – emergency response, post-crisis recovery, and long-term development.
UNICEF's partnership with the U.S. Government and the American people makes a profound difference in children's lives. UNICEF and the United States helped to cut the number of under-five child deaths from 12 million a year in 1990, to 7.6 million in 2010. That means 12,000 fewer children perished daily in 2010 than in 1990!
However, we cannot forget the chilling fact that approximately 21,000 children still die every day from preventable causes. Half are children under one year of age. Pneumonia and diarrhea alone account for a 1/3 of all child deaths; malnutrition plays a role in more than 1/3 of child deaths. 21,000 children are dying every day of causes we have the power to prevent
We believe that number should be ZERO! Getting to Zero involves everyone pitching in, including the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government's annual contribution to UNICEF is part of America's global investment in children. This funding enables UNICEF to partner with the United States to save and improve the lives of children around the world.
Why Should the U.S. Government Support UNICEF?
The U.S. Government's longstanding and generous support for UNICEF makes a real difference in saving children's lives:
- For more than 50 years, UNICEF has been a world leader in immunizations. In 2010, UNICEF supplied more than 2.3 billion vaccine doses reaching 55 percent of the world's children. UNICEF is responsible for buying all vaccines and related items for global campaigns to eradicate polio, eliminate neonatal and maternal tetanus, and control measles; and procures vaccines for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI). In addition, UNICEF works in-country to ensure that those vaccines reach even the poorest children and communities.
- UNICEF is one of the largest buyers of mosquito nets in the world, helping more than 42 million households in 2010 receive bed nets to protect against malaria.
- Nutritional supplements such as high protein biscuits, micronutrients, and ready-to-use therapeutic foods like Plumpy’nut are “miracle” foods that can quickly bring a child back from the verge of starvation. In 2010, UNICEF provided 20,000 tons of therapeutic foods to save children’s lives, enough to treat a million severely malnourished children.
- Spearheaded by UNICEF, Rotary International, and others, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative helped reduce polio cases by more than 99 percent over the past two decades, from more than 350,000 cases in 1988 to an estimated 1,350 in 2010. Immunization campaigns continue in order to finally eradicate this terrible disease; for example, UNICEF and its partners organized a massive campaign last year to immunize 72 million children in 15 African countries against polio.
- A global effort led by UNICEF and Kiwanis International has increased household use of iodized salt from 20% to 70%, protecting 84 million newborns from brain damage caused by iodine deficiency, and helping thirty-four countries achieve universal salt iodization. Kiwanis International selected UNICEF as its partner for the current Kiwanis global campaign to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus.
- Because of its established presence and pre-positioned stocks around the world, UNICEF plays a critical role as a U.S. partner helping children in humanitarian crises. For example, after last January's catastrophic earthquake in Haiti, UNICEF worked with partners to immunize almost 2 million vulnerable children against preventable diseases such as measles, diphtheria and polio; and at the height of the emergency response, trucked 8.3 million liters of safe water every day to approximately 680,000 people.
